Anti-Homeless Spikes Outside Tesco Vandalised With Concrete

Opposition to anti-homeless spikes being put up to prevent rough sleepers has solidified - in the form of concrete.

A row of the studs - which have been compared to pigeon deterrents - is outside a Tesco Metro on London's Regent Street, but in the early hours of this morning activists paid a visit to the store and poured concrete over them.

“They’ve cut Shelter’s funding. Crisis are in crisis. There’s more people on the street, more people using food banks – and you have businesses installing anti-homeless spikes. It’s a really degrading way to treat human beings.”

The group can claim victory however - for on Thursday Tesco announced it would be removing the spikes entirely - though the supermarket giant inferred they were not put in place to deter homeless people.

A spokesman for Tesco told Huffington Post UK via email: “Customers told us they were intimidated by anti-social behaviour outside our Regent Street store and we put studs in place to try and stop it.

"These studs have caused concern for some who have interpreted them as an anti-homeless measure so we have decided to remove them to address this concern. We will find a different solution and hope this clears up any confusion.”

VICTORY! Tescos have just agreed to remove their 'anti-social' spikes from outside their Regent Street store.... http://t.co/OL5xLCgwdR

She writes: "We should be offering practical and emotional support to help the most vulnerable to get back on their feet. We should not be sending them the message that they are pests that need to be warded off.

"For those people who are not sure if they agree with this petition I would say if it is a problem for a homeless person to stay in that area, then perhaps a more human approach could be adopted – a person telling another person to move along is more humane than installing spikes.